Divorce rates have risen for the first time in five years

More people are waiting longer in their relationships to get married, but the latest news on separation isn't so positive.

The rate of divorce has increased for the first time in five years, figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown.

There were 106,959 divorces of opposite-sex couples in 2016, an increase of 5.8% compared with 2015. The last time there was an increase in divorce rate was between 2011 and 2012, with a more significant rise in 2009.

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Although the number of marriages has been falling in recent years, the proportion of divorces also rose last year to 8.9 divorces per 1,000 married men and women aged 16 and over, up by 4.7 per cent since 2015.

The divorce rate was highest for men aged 45 to 49 and women aged 30 to 39, with the over-50s age group experiencing the highest increase for both men and women. When it came to the cause, unreasonable behaviour – which can include having a sexual relationship with someone else – was the most common grounds, accounting for 96% of divorces among men and 93% among women.

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The rise in break-ups was also seen in same-sex couples. In 2016, there were 112 divorces among same-sex couples in England and Wales, five times more than in the previous year, when there were 22. Over three-quarters (78%) of these were among female couples.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. The ONS highlights that divorce rates in 2016 are over 20% lower than the recent peak in divorce between 2003 and 2004.

'Despite this small rise, it is important to remember that rates of divorce are still below 2014 levels and it appears that the overall trend continues to be downward,' Chris Sherwood from relationship support charity, Relate, said in response to the findings.

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